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This book is a strong call for loyalty to Christ above all. It is written by Lee Camp who is a professor at Lipscomb University. I never had Mr. Camp as a professor. He was a popular teacher on campus in the Bible department. The book is a strong plea for total dedication to the kingdom of God. It has a great explanation for the coming together of the present age and the age to come. This was one of the best parts. Also, the book deals with the problem of people seeing Christianity as a religion that is believed but not to lived. The book is written at a high level of understanding. A person would need a deep background in the church to grasp the majority of the ideas that are presented. The book is deep. The book highlights the problem that some Christians are more dedicated to the nation of America than they are to the kingdom of God. I love America, Canada, but I love the church and Christ more. This is a needed call to numerous Christians.
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- Read “Illusions of Innocence”
- Read “The Myth of the Shiksa”
- Read “Troubling Questions for Calvinists”
- Read “A New Kind of Church”
- Read “The Post-American World”
About The Author
Lee Camp had a major influence on me deciding to give my life to the Lord. His biggest influence was the fact that at a time when I thought most Christians (I was not one at the time) were intentional walking hypocrites, I saw someone who was making an honest attempt at trying to live like Jesus (under the Kingdom of God).
This is a great book. I am more and more convinced of how necessary its message needs to be heard by Christians living in North America. But the book is more than just a call to love Christ and the church more than we do the nation and its citizens. The book is a call to take the teaching of Jesus seriously, which includes loving each other, our neighbors, and loving our enemies (rather than participating or supporting their destruction at the hands of the nations sword).
And something that is subtley commincated in this book is the subject of hermeneutics. Namely that Jesus is the hermeneutic for the life, mission, and purpose of the church – not the various theological constructs that Christians have replaced Jesus with throughout Christian history. But those who are deeply entrenched in the patternism hermeneutic of the Restoration Movement may have a difficult time with this book.
Grace and peace,
Rex
I read the book a few years ago. If I remember correctly, Mr. Camp advocates pacificism much like David Lipscomb did, except that Mr. Camp does not seem to see that God has given government the responsibility to use force (even deadly force) to protect the innocent and to fight injustice (Romans 13). Having said that, I know that he made some valid points also about following Jesus rather than the spirit of our age, about loving others, and about a sacrificial attitude in our service.
You are correct, he focuses on serving the oppressed, but we must remember the pericope of Luke 18 with the blind man and Zacc. in which Jesus is merciful with the oppressed and the oppresser.
Lee Camp is discussing the Christian. Yes God has given certain authority to the government to be a policing agent BUT should the Christian participate in that government or has the Christian been called to a higher mission? This question is even more on point when participation (or support) in the governments action on the Christian’s part clearly forces the Christian to sacrifice the teachings of Jesus. Question: How does a Christian love his neighbor and enemy when he is aiming a riffle or missle at that neighbor/enemy?
This is the unresolvable question for me and why I stopped advocation just war/violence. I understand the command to love neighbor/enemy as to be done in the same way Jesus love us (we were the neighbor/enemy). If Jesus loved us by laying his own life down for us then how can we redefine love in such a way that allows us to kill our neighbor/enemy rather than serve them and sacrifice for them?
Rex
i’m intrigued. i might have to at least skim through this book, i’ve thought a lot about the Christian and relating to the state off and on for the last couple years and am very sympathetic to pacifism. sadly, i have three books going concurrently right now and i’m about to start school again which will probably put a lot of my leisure reading a halt. but thanks for bringing this book to my attention though.
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